The present invention relates generally to a device for laminating a first section of adhesive coated tape onto a second section of tape, and more particularly, to a device for laminating an adhesive coated layer of tape to the top surface of a piece of lettering tape or the like for improving the durability of the same.
Various printing apparatus and devices exist in the prior art for producing a strip of lettering tape having lettered characters or other indicia thereon. One example one such an apparatus is the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,332 which utilizes a dry lettering process to transfer an image of a character from a carbon ribbon onto a section of adhesive coated tape with a release liner. When it is desired to use this lettered tape, the release liner is removed and the adhesive coated top layer which carries the letters is placed on the desired medium. The tape and ribbion supply for use in such apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,547. Although lettering devices of the type described above produce high quality lettering with sufficient durability for many applications, there are some applications where more durability is required. For example, when the lettering tape is used on file folders, technical drawings, keylines, name tags, machines or any other application where the lettering is exposed to constant handling or abrasion, the lettering tends to wear down, smudge, scratch of the like. Accordingly, in certain applications, it is desirable to provide such lettering with greater durability.
In the past, several options were available to accomplish this objective. One option was simple to manually place a strip of adhesive coated, transparent tape over the lettered tape after it had been placed on the desired medium. This worked sufficiently well, although it was difficult to accurately align the adhesive coated tape with the lettered tape. A second option was to spray the lettered tape with a clear lacquer or to apply a layer of a varnish-type shellac to the lettered tape with a brush. Although this option was acceptable for some applications, it was time consuming. Also, the application of the lacquer or the shellac sometimes caused the lettering to smudge or partially dissolve, thus adversely affecting the quality of the resulting product. A third option was to laminate the lettered tape between two sheets of plastic and bond the same together with a heat seal. This also was quite time consuming and was only applicable for very limited situations.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a means for quickly and efficiently increasing the durability of lettered tape.